Tune Up Your Teaching and Turn on Student Learning

Teachers want their students to think, learn, and understand. Some teachers are more successful than others in achieving those goals. * What do teachers who achieve those goals do differently than those who don't? * What can new teachers do to help support students progress toward those goals without "giving the answers" to early in the learning process? * What can experienced teachers do to improve their percent of their students who are successful in achieving of those goals? Without realizing it in many cases, most teachers provide options for students that allow their students to complete required tasks with minimal effort on their part. The problem is how to avoid the “TMI” trap. In "Tune Up Your Teaching and Turn On Your Students", Dr. Chuck Downing and Dr. JoAnn Jurchan, two veteran educators with over 75 years of combined experience at multiple student levels, provide a clear and detailed description of how to help teachers change their methods and raise the level of both thinking and learning in their classrooms. Neither a “cookbook” nor a “one size fits all” solution, "Tune Up Your Teaching and Turn On Your Students" instead describes a research-based process that can be personally tailored by any teacher to her or his situation. Regardless of the tenure of your teaching experience, you will find both guidance and pearls that will help and motivate you to transform your teaching. Written in a conversational style, Dr. Jurchan and Dr. Downing, using concrete examples in all core areas of how to transform common activities into hotbeds of thinking. To clarify critical points, the authors include “He Said She Said” dialogues between one another, providing insight into their thought process. This is a map of the change process “with GPS coordinates included.”

Dr. JoAnn Jurchan began teaching in elementary schools in 1979. From 1984-1991, she taught at the middle/ junior high level. She designed the comprehensive junior high program for a K-8 school and was appointed as Lead Teacher and then Vice-principal. In 1988, she began teaching GED and High School Diploma courses in the Adult School Education system. She also served as Director of Educational Development for a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing K-6 systems with school-wide character education programs. In 1996, she accepted a teaching position at Granite Hills High School in alternative education programs for at-risk students. While there, she designed a high school independent contract credit retrieval program, coordinated school-wide literacy programs, was a member of the Literacy Professional Network, and was a San Diego County RISE trainer. From 2000-2003, she served as Founder and Director of the Eye of the Eagle Academies -- a smaller learning community on the high school campus. In 2000, she received the Greater San Diego Reading Association Award of Excellence. She received the 2002-2003 Teacher of the Year Award (Granite Hills High School). From 2001-2003, she served as an adjunct professor in the Teacher Education Department of Alliant International University. In 2003, she accepted an Associate Professorship at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU). While at PLNU, she taught a number of Multiple Subject and Single Subject courses as well as Masters level courses. She served as the Single Subject Coordinator. In 2006, she accepted an Associate Professorship at Azusa Pacific University (APU). Leadership positions held at APU include CalTPA Coordinator, CalTPA Lead Assessor/Trainer, Course Lead Instructor, and Area Regional Coordinator for Multiple Subject, Single Subject, and Special Education programs. Dr. Jurchan was the recipient of APU’s School of Education Excellence in Teaching Award in 2008. Dr. Jurchan is author of Choices: Teacher’s Resource Kit and contributing author to Focus on Character. Character Counts! Articles published in professional journals include: Emotional Intelligence: An Introduction for the Educator, Dispositions in Teacher Education: Complex but Comprehensible (co-authored), The Case Study: Bringing Real-world Experience into the Teacher Preparation Program (co-authored), and Preparing Teachers to Support English Language Learners (group-authored). JoAnn has conducted numerous faculty trainings and presented and consulted for state, national, and international audiences on a variety of critical education topics. Topics covered include, secondary content area literacy, universal access for diverse populations, second language acquisition theory and pedagogy, teacher dispositions, emotional intelligence, and the critical thinking approach. Dr. Jurchan has a Masters in TESOL and an earned doctorate in Educational Leadership.

Dr. Chuck Downing began teaching at Monte Vista High School in 1973. He was department chair from 1981- 1995. He has been "San Diego County Teacher of the Year" and won the CIBA-GEIGY Award for Excellence in Science Teaching from NSTA. He was a Christa McAuliffe Fellow in 1992, and he won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching in 1993. In 1994 he was named as a participant in Access Excellence for Biology teachers. In 1996 he accepted an Associate Professorship in Education at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) and was promoted to full professor in 2000. While at PLNU, he was Director of Teacher Education and taught General Education Biology (lab always and lecture/lab twice) for the Biology Department. From 2004-2012, he taught science at Great Oak High School in the Temecula Valley Unified School District. Chuck retired from K-12 teaching in June 2012. Dr. Downing is co-author of CRANIAL CREATIONS in Life Science and CRANIAL CREATIONS in Physical Science by J. Weston Walch, Publishers. This two-book series of creative exercises emphasizes critical thinking through a variety of strategies. Additionally he has designed Descendent Disks, a genetic simulation activity for students using human genetic traits as the basis of the "game" and Cole Slaw Chemistry, a series of activities using red cabbage juice as a pH indicator, and Biome Bags, a inquiry-based investigation of flora and fauna in world biomes. These kits and two kinesthetic experiential activities Cruisin’ the Circulatory System, Kinesthetic Protein Synthesis are marketed by Science Kit-Boreal Laboratories. Ward's Biology markets a problem-solving, forensic-based laboratory skills assessment kit, Mystery at 323 Maple. He is principal author/editor of a 4-volume series of integrated science books, Making Connections, published by the Grossmont Union High School District, but now out of print. Peoples Education published, AP Biology: Inquiry-infused Laboratory Investigations and Activities with Thinking and Writing Skills, in August of 2010. His first science fiction novel, "Traveler’s HOT-L", will be released by Koehler Books in March, 2014. Chuck is a frequent speaker at science conferences at the local, state, and national levels. Topics covered by his workshops include: critical thinking, creative assignments, integration of curriculum, adding inquiry to laboratory exercises, “bringing about closure,” the importance of kinesthetic activities, and effective questioning techniques. His consulting company, Engage in Science, provides professional development opportunities for school districts nationwide.